Shinken noted the dramatic transition in the landscape as they pushed further into fire country. Insead of sparse plant life there was greenery everywhere. The temperature had dropped to a much more comfortable level as well. There were trees everywhere. It seemed as if the country was nearly entirely made up of forests. This wasn’t the first time Shinken had seen the Land of Fire but somehow it still inspired a sense of awe in him.
“So we know he’s hiding somewhere in the land of fire. Do we have any clue as to where?” Kazumi asked, breaking the silence. Shinken had been thinking about that as they had made their way out of the Land of Wind. He didn’t really have any solid leads to go off of, and it wasn’t like he could just walk into the hidden leaf village. He would have to settle for heading into Tanzaku Town. That meant at least another day or two of travel of course. Shinken would have to take advantage of the opportunity to train Kazumi while he could. She had impressed him yesterday. It wasn’t easy to land a blow on an Uchiha when the Sharingan was active, but she had managed to do so. Of course if it had been a real fight it would have been over far before she would have managed the feat, but it was impressive nonetheless.
“Well I suppose we head to Tanzaku Town. It’s a major landmark in the land of fire, and we can stop at Otafuku city along the way. We’ll hit two places in one trip. If that doesn’t work we might have to try and get a message to the village hidden in the leaves. They’ll be more likely to know of any unusual activity in their country.” Shinken answered. Kazumi nodded her approval of his plan.
“So which way do we go then?” She asked. Shinken pointed at an upcoming fork in the road.
“This way. It will take us another day or so to get to where we are going.” He explained. Kazumi fell in behind him and the two of them began to make their way down the path. The massive trees gave them ample shade and it was actually a rather pleasant trip. Shinken had decided that they would travel at a normal pace, both to avoid drawing too much attention to themselves, and to preserve their energy in case of an ambush.
The two ninja travelled for several hours before they came across a small inn on the side of the road. It was a simple building, capable of holding no more than 15 people Shinken guessed. It was probably more of a rest station than an actual place to spend the night, but it seemed prudent to step inside and have a look around.
Shinken and Kazumi entered the small building to find an older woman behind the counter. As the bell attached to the door rang, the woman awoke from what must have been a mid day nap.
“Oh. Travellers! What can I do for you today? Do you need a place to rest? Maybe some Tea or a hot meal?” The old woman said almost excitedly. The idea of a hot meal did appeal to Shinken. He’d rather fill his belly with real food than dried rations.
“We’d love some tea, and a hot meal too.” Shinken answered. The old woman gave him a genuine smile and gestured for him to follow her. He gave Kazumi a glance that told her to stay on her guard. He wasn’t truly suspicious of the old woman, but one could never be too careful when hunting a rogue ninja. The two of them followed the woman into a small room with a single round table in the center. The table was surrounded by cushions on the floor. It would seem they were meant to sit on the floor.
“Thank you.” Shinken said and bowed his head to the old woman before taking a seat at the table, with Kazumi quickly following suit.
“Oh you’re most welcome. I know travelling the road can be uncomfortable. I’ll be back in a minute with your tea. Is Yakisoba ok? I’m afraid it’s all we have at the moment.” The old woman explained. Shinken’s eyes lit up at the mention of Yakisoba. While it wasn’t his favorite dish it was on his top ten list.
“Yakisoba would be wonderful.” He answered the woman.
“Good.” She replied with a smile, before turning and leaving the room. When the two ninja were alone Shinken turned to Kazumi.
“Did you notice anything off about this place?” He asked quietly. Kazumi seemed to think for a moment before shaking her head.
“No, I don’t think so. Why?” She asked.
“I’m just being careful is all. I don’t think we have anything to worry about here but I wanted your opinion.” Shinken explained. Before he could say anymore the old woman returned with two hot cups of tea and placed them in front of the ninja.
“Oh my. You’re ninja aren’t you? Your belt gives it away.” The woman said as she noticed the metal plate engraved with the symbol of the hidden sand on Shinken’s waist.
“Ah yes we are. Have you seen any other ninja pass through here recently? Maybe with long black hair?” Shinken asked. He wasn’t a fan of the fact she had noticed his ninja protector, but it was his own fault for not hiding it better. He would have to wrap a cloth around it so it wasn’t revealed when his robes parted. Still it provided a good chance to try and gather some information.
“No I’m afraid I haven’t seen anyone like that.” The woman answered. Shinken hadn’t been expecting it to be that easy, but he had been hoping that he might have gotten lucky.
“Ah that’s too bad then.” Shinken replied.
“Are you looking for a friend of yours?” The woman asked. Shinken was forced to think on his feet. He didn’t want to reveal that he was hunting a rogue ninja. That would be an obvious give away to Kaji if he ever found out. He decided that it was best to allow her to believe her assumptions were true. After all, people didn’t usually question a situation when they believed they were right.
“Yes, but It seems we’ll just have to meet him at our destination. He went on ahead of us you see.” Shinken explained. It was a bold faced lie, but it was at the very least a believable one.
“Oh well I hope you find him then.” The old woman said apologetically before turning and leaving the room again. Shinken looked over at Kazumi knowingly now that the room was empty save for them. She gave him a shrug. It wasn’t ideal, but what was done was done.
Kazumi picked up her cup of tea and gave it a sniff. It smelled just like regular green tea. That was a good sign. Next she tasted it, and again it was just like normal green tea. So it probably wasn’t poisoned then.
“You should try this green tea. It’s pretty good.” She said as she gestured to Shinken’s cup. He took it and put it through the same process she did. His was the same, just normal green tea. He took a sip of it and it had a grassy flavor, with a subtle sweetness to it. It wasn’t the highness quality tea around, but it wasn’t the cheap stuff either.
“Hmm, this tea isn’t bad.” He noted as he took another sip. Kazumi smiled in agreement and the two of them enjoyed the silence for a few minutes before their food arrived.
“Fresh from the kitchen. My son made it!” The old woman said proudly. Shinken had to admit the woman was starting to grow on him. She seemed to genuinely enjoy running the in and serving people.
“Thank you.” Shinken said with a soft smile.
“Oh it’s nothing. You two eat up now!” The old woman replied before she turned and left the room. Shinken and Kazumi examined the food and found no obvious faults with it so they took their first bites. It wasn’t poisoned as far as they could tell. In fact it was actually quite tasty. It had obviously been made with fresh ingredients, and a lot of care.
“This is way better than dried rations.” Shinken said happily. Kazumi chuckled and shook her head at him. She did have to agree though. The food here was pretty good. It wasn’t long before they had finished their meal, and they were both thoroughly satisfied. The old woman came back into the room to check on them and let out a surprised chuckle.
“Oh my! You two must have been hungry. I hope you liked it!” She said as she gathered up the plates and cups. Shinken gave her another heartfelt smile.
“Yes I suppose we were. The food was excellent. Thank you.” He answered. The Old woman flashed him a beaming smile in response.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. Is there anything else we can do for you?” She asked. Shinken shook his head as politely as he could.
“No, but thank you. I think we should really be heading out. We wouldn’t want to keep our friend waiting for too long.” Shinken replied.
“Yes I suppose you do have places to be don’t you?” The woman said. There was a very well hidden note of disappointment in her voice, but Shinken caught it anyway.
“We’ll be sure to stop by again if we head back this way.” He said reassuringly as he reached into his wallet and pulled out his Ryo.
“How much do I owe you?” He asked. The old woman looked at him kindly and smiled softly.
“Just enough to cover costs. I don’t really make any money here. I just like helping people.” She admitted. Shinken was quite surprised to hear her answer. It was one thing to enjoy running an inn, but it was another thing to run it as a non profit. This woman really was something else.
“That’s very kind of you.” He said softly as he handed her his money. He knew she would be the type to refuse to accept anything more than what she had asked for so out of respect for her he didn’t try to give her any extra, but he felt as though he were taking advantage of her kindness.
“Thank you. Have a good trip, and be safe.” The woman said with a smile as she took the money and led the two ninja back to the reception area. Shinken and Kazumi waved goodbye to her as they walked out of the building and back onto the road.
The rest of the day was rather uneventful and they set up camp shortly before the sun disappeared behind the horizon. Shinken made sure to find a place well off of the road and hidden in the deep forest. He didn’t want anyone stumbling across them in the middle of the night, and the next training session would be more intense, potentially leaving him drained for a while.
“This is a nice spot. I sometimes forget what it’s like to travel in a forest.” Kazumi noted as Shinken put the last post of the tent in place.
“Yeah. It’s not like the hidden sand that’s for sure.” He agreed. The two of them each ate about half a ration. They were still rather full from the yakisoba earlier in the day. After they put away the remainder of their meal Shinken got to his feet.
“Alright let’s get that training session in. This time I’m going to use my Jutsu and my sharingan. I want you to try and hit me however you can. You’ll need to come at me with the intent to kill.” He explained. Kazumi looked doubtful and hesitated a moment before speaking up.
“But what if I hurt you?” She protested. He held up a hand to silence her. He knew his own capabilities far better than she did.
“I’m sorry, but you won’t. Not with a single attack.” He explained. She looked a little offended at that, but she quickly came to terms with it.
“Ok on my mark you’ll begin.” Shinken said as he activated his sharingan and his sixth sense, before channeling his chakra into his hands to allow him to form hand seals more quickly.
“Alright, begin!” Shinken commanded. Kazumi wasted no time in going to work. She jumped to the side, and then up into a tree branch above Shinken before launching a spiraling helix of snakes from her sleeve. The snakes made contact With Shinken and bound him in place. She grinned having landed the attack on her first try, but her expression quickly fell as Shinken dispersed into a cloud of small crows and reformed behind her.
“Too Slow.” He stated coldly. She spun around and attempted to deliver a kick to the side of his head, but he simply caught it with one hand and she felt a very uncomfortable heat where his grip was. She quickly pulled away but her clothes had been singed leaving black marks and tattered holes.
Kazumi grimaced and back flipped off of the branch, landing on the ground below. She released the seal that had slowly been absorbing natural energy from her surroundings and her chakra began to form a glowing aura around her.
“Take this!” She shouted as snakes flew from her hands toward Shinken. Again Shinken seemed to dissolve into a flock of crows when the attack made contact, but this time he didn’t reappear.
“I wonder how long you can keep this up.” He mused out loud. Kazumi scanned the surroundings for any sign of him but couldn’t place where the voice was coming from. This was bad. If this was a real fight she would be in a lot of trouble right now. Was this the difference between regular ninja and Kage class shinobi? She took a deep breath and steadied her nerves.
“Is this all you’ve got?” She asked, her voice full of false bravado.
“No.” Shinken answered as he appeared next to her. Kazumi did her best to jump away from him, but he managed to graze her arm with two fingers. It suddenly went numb and dropped to her side. She cursed her poor reaction time and started weaving one handed seals.
“I’m not finished yet!” She growled as she circled behind Shinken. His eyes watched her as he kept pace with her turn. She cursed internally. He was too fast to catch off guard. Then she would just have to surprise him another way. Kazumi threw out her snakes from her good arm, and waited until she was obscured from view to dash into the cover of the forest. Her attack had been aimed at blocking Shinken’s vision as opposed to actually making contact and it seemed to have worked. That was until she heard his voice behind her.
“Good effort, but not good enough.” He said as chains flew out of the ground and grabbed hold of her limbs. They held her in place as he approached.
“Game over.” He said calmly and placed his hand on her head. She struggled to free herself but to no avail. The illusions melted away and left Shinken standing ten feet to her left.
“Well it wasn’t bad. Against a normal ninja you would have done very well.” Shinken admitted.
“However it won’t cut it against people like Kaji.” He didn’t mean to be so hard on her, but she needed to hear the truth of the matter. If she went at a Kage level ninja like that she was likely to get herself killed.
“I’m guessing you also used up a lot of chakra in that attempt. That will leave you exposed in a longer fight. Try to pick your opportunities.” He advised. Kazumi hated to admit it but she knew he was right. She had been solely concerned with offense. She had tried to press him as hard as she could and force him to make a mistake. Unfortunately that hadn’t worked and now she was left with very little chakra. She could feel her body getting heavier and her movements getting slower as she released her jutsu. The seal reformed on the back of her neck and she sat down to rest and meditate.
“I’ll do better next time.” She said as she found a comfortable position and stayed still. She still had some natural energy left but she would have to replenish it by staying still for the next half hour or so.
“IT’s alright. You’re learning.” Shinken said as he too deactivated his jutsu and sat down to rest. After they recovered from their sparring match the two ninja called it an early night and went to bed. Now that they were closer to Kaji’s operation they slept in shifts. This meant they were a little more tired come morning, but it ensured that no one snuck up on them in the middle of the night.
In the morning they had a quick breakfast and tore down their camp, before heading back onto the road. It was about mid day when Shinken noticed familiar sights.
“I think we’re almost there. Maybe another hour of travel.” He pointed out. Kazumi was relieved to hear that and looked over at Shinken.
“Do you think they will have somewhere I can take a nice hot bath? Maybe some hot springs” She asked. She was half joking, but the thought of soaking away her weariness was quite appealing.
“I’m not sure. Maybe if we’re lucky.” Shinken answered.
The two ninjas made good time, and in only half an hour the town came into view as they exited the forest.
“There it is. I say we’ll be there in less than fifteen minutes. We should get something to eat and then have a look around. We’ll see if there’s a bathhouse or some hot springs while we scout the place out.” Shinken said. Kazumi grinned at his statement and nodded her head in agreement.
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3046/1200 Travel words to Otafuku
17365/34000 "The Hunt for Kaji Uchiha" Mission completion.
